The Body as an Archive

I found my paternal grandfather’s archives in a suitcase containing private notes of his children’s birthplace, dates of birth, full names, official documents, and international mail. Gradually, I started taking self-portraits to document my creative process; the hands collect, search, touch and feel textures. The method of posing in front of a wall, performing the limitations and consequences of forced migration, on the other hand, facing the door, symbolises the beginning of a new journey or the antithesis. The collaging remaps a parallel space of transgenerational realities where we can witness two lives tied to history in their own times – incorporating the ideas of home on both land and sea. The domestic spaces present the ground of several lineages as the place of home across the complex, layered diasporic realm.